I have recently sold a Graphic body with a roll film back (no lens) thinking I'd never get another complete. Have since bought one with a lens that does not seem to focus on the glass. Lens is a Graphex made by Wollensak for Graflex inc. "Graflex Optar f/4.7 135mm.".
Is this good and is there some reason I cannot get a clear image on the glass?
Any help would be appreciated.

The first thing I would do is clean the lens, remove each element group from the shutter but not remove the cells unless they are foged. Holding toward a celing or table lamp bulb should do the trick. Once the lens is clean and reassembled check the ground glass and remove and wash with mild soap if necessary. Yes I've seen some that after setting for many years had that kind of a white hase that semed stuck there. The next step would be to check the bellows for light leaks. I extend the bellows to maximun, set a mini mag to spot at 1 to 2 inches, turn off the lights, and insert the flashlight inside the bellows and run the 4 edges the full length. Hope this helps.

You may have to move the infinity stops as well, especially if the lens is not the one that was on the camera originally. If you cannot get it in focus at any distance, the stops are too close to the film plane.

My first reply is if the lens or gg are obiously dirty or hazy. Dalerayb's if focus can't be achieved. I am a high level technican and handleing deleciate small parts is no problem for me. Please exercise caution.

Check the other resources section of this site. It has many good listing and link pages. If after searching them try EBAY, USA. There are 18 pages of large format stuff as of today, with 4 or 5 rollfilm backs for graffic cameras.

On 2001-12-05 00:57, ron grover wrote:
I have recently sold a Graphic body with a roll film back (no lens) thinking I'd never get another complete. Have since bought one with a lens that does not seem to focus on the glass. Lens is a Graphex made by Wollensak for Graflex inc. "Graflex Optar f/4.7 135mm.".
Is this good and is there some reason I cannot get a clear image on the glass?
Any help would be appreciated.

Sorry to be such a total idiot, but have you done the first obvious check, looking through the lens to see how dirty it is? And the second one too? Rough-and-ready focal length check, use the lens (off the camera) to image a lamp across the room on a wall? I ask about this last because I recently had a long discussion with a Leica/Rollei expert about why our 45/4.5 Mikrotars behaved so differently. Got him to run the focal length test, his came up unbelievably short, missing element as it turned out.

I'm a d/h. I have used a Graphic previously for c/up work but some 20 years ago. Just realised the two rail stops were not up to stop lens travel. Now focuses. But still confused why lens at this stage is nearly still in the body. When using one years ago, I remember the lens and bellows way out front. Different lens?
Anyway, thanks all for your advice. Everything is clean.

For some strange reason that one could write a book about, lens focus their focal length from the film plane. If you have a 3" lens it will focus at 75mm; a 4" at 100mm; a 10cm at 100mm ( 10cm=100mm). 1"=25mm. A older 90mm might be marked 3.5in. (").
C